When seven resident killer whales that frequent inland waters of Washington vanished this year, there was no shortage of suspects.
Are the orcas starving because of dwindling salmon runs? Is a toxic brew of oil, sewage and pollutants putting them at risk? Or is vessel noise disrupting their ability to find food?
"We're losing animals and we don't exactly understand why," said Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service.
Scientists are turning to new techniques to solve the question of the endangered species' decline, using satellite tracking and analyzing whale scat, breath samples and fish scales.
For the first time, the Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island will tag the southern resident population of killer whales to track their winter migration.
While the region's signature whales have been studied for more than three decades, it's a mystery where they go and what they eat when they leave the Puget Sound.
Starting next year, researchers will attach 2-inch satellite tags on the dorsal fins of the orcas - two from each of the J, K and L pods, or families.
What risk factors do they face in the open ocean? What else is limiting their population? wonders Balcomb, the center's senior scientist.
For the past seven years, the K and L pods have been showing up in Central California, an indication they may be foraging farther for salmon.
"We've got to think bigger about the whole food issue," said Joe Gaydos, a wildlife veterinarian and regional director of the SeaDoc Society.
What the whales eat when they leave Puget Sound has implications for salmon harvest in other areas like California and Alaska, he said.
University of Washington researchers analyzing whale scat have found signs that the mammals were "nutritionally stressed" this year.
Using a trained dog to sniff for poop and a 2-liter bottle on a telescoping pole, they've been collecting and analyzing stress hormones and toxins in the whales.
After three years of study, UW researchers have found a link between whale mortality and low levels of thyroid hormone, which partly controls metabolism. When whale deaths are up, thyroid levels are down, suggesting that the whales are starving.
The results are still preliminary and unpublished, but Sam Wasser, director of the UW Center for Conservation Biology, said they show a consistent nutritional problem.
When whales don't eat much, they draw down their fat reserves, where toxins are stored, said Katherine Ayres, a graduate student doing work under Wasser. When that happens, toxins enter the circulation system and could cause health problems, she said.
It's unclear whether the whales are strictly starving or whether they're becoming more susceptible to disease, but it all goes back to food, she said.
"The future for the fisheries is grim, and it's going to get worse," Balcomb said. "I expect that we'll have a worsening of the whale situation."
The resident Puget Sound orca population now stands at 83. Particularly troubling is the loss this year of two female whales of reproductive age among the seven presumed dead.
Studies show orcas prefer Chinook salmon, a species listed as threatened or endangered in several waterways in the northwest, including Puget Sound and the Columbia River.
Scientists are trying to better understand which salmon runs are important to the orcas.
"We're taking a long hard look at which runs correlate with births and deaths," Hanson said. "That has tremendous implication for our ability to improve conservation."
Once they've collected fish scales and other remains the orcas leave behind after feeding, Hanson and others run it through a genetic database that allows them to identify the species in a way they weren't able to a few years ago.
The lack of prey may not be the only barrier to orca feeding. Vessel noise may disrupt the mammal's ability to find food.
To date, four citations have been issued under a new state law designed to keep vessels farther away from whales. Among the offenders were two different Canada-based whale-watching operations ticketed for coming within 300 feet of the orcas, said Sgt. Russ Mullins with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
NOAA Fisheries is also writing new rules for vessels operating in federal waters.
Lack of food leads to other problems, including increased susceptibility to disease, said J.Pete Schroeder, a marine mammal veterinarian and director of research with Global Research and Rescue.
Schroeder and others have been capturing the breath droplets the whales emit from their blowholes.
They're studying potentially harmful organisms in the thin sea surface layer of the Puget Sound and in the breath samples of the orcas.
The researchers ride alongside the whales and swing petri dishes attached to long poles to capture air droplets from the blowhole.
Schroeder found that the orcas carry at least 13 antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Pathogens normally live in blowholes and upper respiratory tracts without causing disease, but whales with a suppressed immune system can become infected.
"There are diseases out there that can wipe out this population," Gaydos said.
All of this collective research will enable scientists to build a health assessment profile for the individual whales, Schroeder said.
Advocates argue that the orcas' problems should be seen as a call to action to clean up Puget Sound because the whales' decline means something far greater that losing the species itself.
"It means that the whole habitat is losing its ability to sustain life," said Howard Garrett, director of the Orca Network.
zondag 28 december 2008
vrijdag 26 december 2008
Photographer times it right as orca cause stir off Tahunanui
Aspiring photographer Matt Hayes couldn't believe his luck when he took his new camera to the beach for the first time, just as a pod of orca made its way up the Blind Channel, at the end of Tahunanui Beach.
Matt, 17, of Nelson, said he was walking along the beach, planning to take photographs of kite surfers, when a woman told him that there were orca in the channel.
Most kite surfers left the water perhaps wary of the "killer whale" reputation of the mammals, but others remained in the water, with at least one kite surfer claiming he had almost hit one of them, Matt said.
He said the "pretty big" orca, of which there were at least three, had been going up and down the channel and, as he arrived, they started to make their way out to sea.
Matt snapped one photograph of a swimmer attempting to reach the orca on their way out of the channel but said the man did not make it to within 10 metres of the pod.
He said he got the camera for his birthday about two months ago but had been reluctant to take it to the beach until yesterday for fear of getting sand in it.
The Nelson College student was taking photography when he returned for Year 13 after the summer break.
When a pod of orca visited Nelson earlier this year, Department of Conservation marine specialist Andrew Baxter said they were frequent visitors to the region.
They were more commonly seen in the summer months from November onwards, but could be seen at any time of year.
About 200 orca were believed to live around New Zealand, with some coming to Nelson on a regular basis, Mr Baxter said. Orca could travel 100km to 150km a day.
Matt, 17, of Nelson, said he was walking along the beach, planning to take photographs of kite surfers, when a woman told him that there were orca in the channel.
Most kite surfers left the water perhaps wary of the "killer whale" reputation of the mammals, but others remained in the water, with at least one kite surfer claiming he had almost hit one of them, Matt said.
He said the "pretty big" orca, of which there were at least three, had been going up and down the channel and, as he arrived, they started to make their way out to sea.
Matt snapped one photograph of a swimmer attempting to reach the orca on their way out of the channel but said the man did not make it to within 10 metres of the pod.
He said he got the camera for his birthday about two months ago but had been reluctant to take it to the beach until yesterday for fear of getting sand in it.
The Nelson College student was taking photography when he returned for Year 13 after the summer break.
When a pod of orca visited Nelson earlier this year, Department of Conservation marine specialist Andrew Baxter said they were frequent visitors to the region.
They were more commonly seen in the summer months from November onwards, but could be seen at any time of year.
About 200 orca were believed to live around New Zealand, with some coming to Nelson on a regular basis, Mr Baxter said. Orca could travel 100km to 150km a day.
zaterdag 20 december 2008
Researchers probe scat for clues to orca decline
Using a trained dog to sniff for poop and petri dishes attached to long poles, scientists are analyzing killer whales' scat and breath samples in the hopes of solving the mystery of Puget Sound's dwindling orca population.
Seven resident killer whales that frequent the inland waters of Washington went missing this year and are presumed dead, and researchers want an explanation.
"We're losing animals and we don't exactly understand why," said Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service.
University of Washington researchers analyzing stress hormones and toxins from scat of the remaining 83 orcas have found signs suggesting the mammals may be starving, possibly due to dwindling salmon runs.
A different team of scientists from Global Research and Rescue is riding alongside the whales, using petri dishes on poles to capture air droplets from the blowholes. The breath samples are being studied for potentially harmful organisms.
Other theories as to the orcas' demise include ocean pollutants such as oil and sewage, or vessel noise disrupting their ability to find food.
The Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island plans to tag the southern resident population of killer whales next year to track their winter migration. While the region's signature whales have been studied for more than three decades, it's a mystery where they go and what they eat when they leave the Puget Sound.
Starting next year, researchers will attach two-inch satellite tags on the dorsal fins of six of the orcas. For the past seven years, two of the pods have been showing up in central California, an indication they may be foraging farther for salmon.
"We've got to think bigger about the whole food issue," said Joe Gaydos, a wildlife veterinarian and regional director of the SeaDoc Society.
What the whales eat when they leave Puget Sound has implications for salmon harvest in other areas like California and Alaska, he said.
UW researchers who use a 2-liter bottle on a telescoping pole to collect whale scat for analysis have found a link between whale mortality and low levels of thyroid hormone, which partly controls metabolism. When whale deaths are up, thyroid levels are down, suggesting that the whales are starving.
The results are still preliminary and unpublished, but Sam Wasser, director of the UW Center for Conservation Biology, said they show a consistent nutritional problem.
When whales don't eat much, they draw down their fat reserves, where toxins are stored, said Katherine Ayres, a graduate student doing work under Wasser. When that happens, toxins enter the circulation system and could cause health problems, she said.
It's unclear whether the whales are strictly starving or whether they're becoming more susceptible to disease, but it all goes back to food, she said.
"The future for the fisheries is grim, and it's going to get worse," Balcomb said. "I expect that we'll have a worsening of the whale situation."
Studies show orcas prefer Chinook salmon, a species listed as threatened or endangered in several waterways in the northwest, including Puget Sound and the Columbia River.
Scientists are trying to better understand which salmon runs are important to the orcas.
"We're taking a long hard look at which runs correlate with births and deaths," Hanson said. "That has tremendous implication for our ability to improve conservation."
Once they've collected fish scales and other remains the orcas leave behind after feeding, Hanson and others run it through a genetic database that allows them to identify the species in a way they weren't able to a few years ago.
The lack of prey may not be the only barrier to orca feeding. Vessel noise may disrupt the mammal's ability to find food.
To date, four citations have been issued under a new state law designed to keep vessels farther away from whales. Among the offenders were two different Canada-based whale-watching operations ticketed for coming within 300 feet of the orcas, said Sgt. Russ Mullins with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
NOAA Fisheries is also writing new rules for vessels operating in federal waters.
Lack of food leads to other problems, including increased susceptibility to disease, said J.Pete Schroeder, a marine mammal veterinarian and director of research with Global Research and Rescue.
Schroeder and others have been capturing the breath droplets the whales emit from their blowholes.
They're studying potentially harmful organisms in the thin sea surface layer of the Puget Sound and in the breath samples of the orcas.
Schroeder found that the orcas carry at least 13 antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Pathogens normally live in blowholes and upper respiratory tracts without causing disease, but whales with a suppressed immune system can become infected.
"There are diseases out there that can wipe out this population," Gaydos said.
All of this collective research will enable scientists to build a health assessment profile for the individual whales, Schroeder said.
Advocates argue that the orcas' problems should be seen as a call to action to clean up Puget Sound because the whales' decline means something far greater that losing the species itself.
"It means that the whole habitat is losing its ability to sustain life," said Howard Garrett, director of the Orca Network.
Seven resident killer whales that frequent the inland waters of Washington went missing this year and are presumed dead, and researchers want an explanation.
"We're losing animals and we don't exactly understand why," said Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service.
University of Washington researchers analyzing stress hormones and toxins from scat of the remaining 83 orcas have found signs suggesting the mammals may be starving, possibly due to dwindling salmon runs.
A different team of scientists from Global Research and Rescue is riding alongside the whales, using petri dishes on poles to capture air droplets from the blowholes. The breath samples are being studied for potentially harmful organisms.
Other theories as to the orcas' demise include ocean pollutants such as oil and sewage, or vessel noise disrupting their ability to find food.
The Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island plans to tag the southern resident population of killer whales next year to track their winter migration. While the region's signature whales have been studied for more than three decades, it's a mystery where they go and what they eat when they leave the Puget Sound.
Starting next year, researchers will attach two-inch satellite tags on the dorsal fins of six of the orcas. For the past seven years, two of the pods have been showing up in central California, an indication they may be foraging farther for salmon.
"We've got to think bigger about the whole food issue," said Joe Gaydos, a wildlife veterinarian and regional director of the SeaDoc Society.
What the whales eat when they leave Puget Sound has implications for salmon harvest in other areas like California and Alaska, he said.
UW researchers who use a 2-liter bottle on a telescoping pole to collect whale scat for analysis have found a link between whale mortality and low levels of thyroid hormone, which partly controls metabolism. When whale deaths are up, thyroid levels are down, suggesting that the whales are starving.
The results are still preliminary and unpublished, but Sam Wasser, director of the UW Center for Conservation Biology, said they show a consistent nutritional problem.
When whales don't eat much, they draw down their fat reserves, where toxins are stored, said Katherine Ayres, a graduate student doing work under Wasser. When that happens, toxins enter the circulation system and could cause health problems, she said.
It's unclear whether the whales are strictly starving or whether they're becoming more susceptible to disease, but it all goes back to food, she said.
"The future for the fisheries is grim, and it's going to get worse," Balcomb said. "I expect that we'll have a worsening of the whale situation."
Studies show orcas prefer Chinook salmon, a species listed as threatened or endangered in several waterways in the northwest, including Puget Sound and the Columbia River.
Scientists are trying to better understand which salmon runs are important to the orcas.
"We're taking a long hard look at which runs correlate with births and deaths," Hanson said. "That has tremendous implication for our ability to improve conservation."
Once they've collected fish scales and other remains the orcas leave behind after feeding, Hanson and others run it through a genetic database that allows them to identify the species in a way they weren't able to a few years ago.
The lack of prey may not be the only barrier to orca feeding. Vessel noise may disrupt the mammal's ability to find food.
To date, four citations have been issued under a new state law designed to keep vessels farther away from whales. Among the offenders were two different Canada-based whale-watching operations ticketed for coming within 300 feet of the orcas, said Sgt. Russ Mullins with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
NOAA Fisheries is also writing new rules for vessels operating in federal waters.
Lack of food leads to other problems, including increased susceptibility to disease, said J.Pete Schroeder, a marine mammal veterinarian and director of research with Global Research and Rescue.
Schroeder and others have been capturing the breath droplets the whales emit from their blowholes.
They're studying potentially harmful organisms in the thin sea surface layer of the Puget Sound and in the breath samples of the orcas.
Schroeder found that the orcas carry at least 13 antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Pathogens normally live in blowholes and upper respiratory tracts without causing disease, but whales with a suppressed immune system can become infected.
"There are diseases out there that can wipe out this population," Gaydos said.
All of this collective research will enable scientists to build a health assessment profile for the individual whales, Schroeder said.
Advocates argue that the orcas' problems should be seen as a call to action to clean up Puget Sound because the whales' decline means something far greater that losing the species itself.
"It means that the whole habitat is losing its ability to sustain life," said Howard Garrett, director of the Orca Network.
donderdag 18 december 2008
Picture of Chopfin
Photo: Chopfin and his frequent companion, CA216, who is identifiable by the narrow black streak on her saddle, cruise the Monterey coastline in 2007. Credit: Cody Martin
I received the accompanying photo of Chopfin the killer whale after an item I posted Tuesday on the recent sightings locally of Chopfin and his frequent companion, an adult female cataloged as CA216.
So I thought I'd share. The photo was taken by Cody Martin in Monterey Bay on Aug. 26, 2007. (Chopfin is a transient killer whale that feeds on marine mammals and has been documented preying on gray whales off Monterey.)
I had the pleasure of meeting Martin, a budding marine biologist from El Segundo, on an all-day whale-watch trip last March. He was 12 at the time and it was a rare sighting in itself: a kid actually enjoying the great outdoors.
"It's just such a mystery; you never know what you're going to see," Martin said on a day during which we saw very few whales.
Anyway, Outposts thanks Cody for taking an interest, and for sharing this great photo.
--Pete Thomas
dinsdag 16 december 2008
Whale watchers should be on the lookout for Chopfin, the transient orca
When the storms clear out and the ocean is again calm and navigable, marine mammal enthusiasts will venture out in search of Pacific gray whales migrating south to Mexico.
What they might encounter, though, are killer whales that have been seen sporadically in recent weeks off Orange County and Los Angeles. These "transient" orcas prey almost exclusively on marine mammals and perhaps are taking advantage of an abundant California sea lion population in the San Pedro Channel.
The most prominent member of this small sub-pod of transients is "Chopfin," who has a severely damaged dorsal fin.
In all, 150 transient killer whales have been photo-cataloged by researchers Alisa Schulman-Janiger and Nancy Black. None is as easily identifiable or as mobile as Chopfin, who is catalogued as CA217.
So if you're heading out anytime soon, definitely keep an eye peeled for Chopfin and his posse.
The first known sighting of Chopfin, or CA217, was in 1998 on the backside of Santa Catalina Island. He was with four other orcas, including an adult female cataloged as CA216.
CA216 is Chopfin's frequent companion. In 1999 they were seen together off Monterey, a new calf by their side. CA216 had another calf early in 2007, so it is quite the family group milling off our coast.
Chopfin, though lucky in love, is unlucky when it comes to his dorsal fin. His original injury was possibly caused by a fishing net. His fin "flopped to the right and completely collapsed," Schulman-Janiger said. "We called this whale 'Willy II' after Keiko the killer whale of 'Free Willy' fame."
Chopfin was seen with fresh wounds to his dorsal -- which is now essentially a stump -- in 2007 off Westport, Wash.
But Chopfin, the only known transient to have been seen as far south as Dana Point, endures.
He and CA216, and at least two other unidentifiable transients, were spotted from a distance by Schulman-Janiger and her husband, David, on Nov. 29, five miles beyond L.A. Harbor. But it was a fleeting glimpse.
"We searched for the killer whales: up the coast, in close to shore, and back offshore down the coast to where we had first seen them," Schulman-Janiger said. "Although we covered many miles in this area for over four hours, we never did spot these killer whales again."
They may still be in the vicinity. Schulman-Janiger requests that whale watchers tote cameras and try to get profile photos for her identification project. She can be reached via e-mail at janiger@bcf.usc.edu, or by phone at (310) 519-8963.
What they might encounter, though, are killer whales that have been seen sporadically in recent weeks off Orange County and Los Angeles. These "transient" orcas prey almost exclusively on marine mammals and perhaps are taking advantage of an abundant California sea lion population in the San Pedro Channel.
The most prominent member of this small sub-pod of transients is "Chopfin," who has a severely damaged dorsal fin.
In all, 150 transient killer whales have been photo-cataloged by researchers Alisa Schulman-Janiger and Nancy Black. None is as easily identifiable or as mobile as Chopfin, who is catalogued as CA217.
So if you're heading out anytime soon, definitely keep an eye peeled for Chopfin and his posse.
The first known sighting of Chopfin, or CA217, was in 1998 on the backside of Santa Catalina Island. He was with four other orcas, including an adult female cataloged as CA216.
CA216 is Chopfin's frequent companion. In 1999 they were seen together off Monterey, a new calf by their side. CA216 had another calf early in 2007, so it is quite the family group milling off our coast.
Chopfin, though lucky in love, is unlucky when it comes to his dorsal fin. His original injury was possibly caused by a fishing net. His fin "flopped to the right and completely collapsed," Schulman-Janiger said. "We called this whale 'Willy II' after Keiko the killer whale of 'Free Willy' fame."
Chopfin was seen with fresh wounds to his dorsal -- which is now essentially a stump -- in 2007 off Westport, Wash.
But Chopfin, the only known transient to have been seen as far south as Dana Point, endures.
He and CA216, and at least two other unidentifiable transients, were spotted from a distance by Schulman-Janiger and her husband, David, on Nov. 29, five miles beyond L.A. Harbor. But it was a fleeting glimpse.
"We searched for the killer whales: up the coast, in close to shore, and back offshore down the coast to where we had first seen them," Schulman-Janiger said. "Although we covered many miles in this area for over four hours, we never did spot these killer whales again."
They may still be in the vicinity. Schulman-Janiger requests that whale watchers tote cameras and try to get profile photos for her identification project. She can be reached via e-mail at janiger@bcf.usc.edu, or by phone at (310) 519-8963.
zondag 14 december 2008
Man recalls orca's capture
Every year on the anniversary of Corky's capture off Vancouver Island, Paul Spong thinks about the "sad tale" of how six wild whales were turned into captives.
Spong burns a candle every Dec. 11 at his whale research station on Hanson Island to show he is thinking about the day in 1969 when six killer whales from northern resident pods were captured and sold to aquariums.
Five died within the first few years of captivity. But Corky -- five years old when she was caught -- survived these 39 years, and has been known since her capture as Shamu to SeaWorld San Diego visitors.
"Her story is a sad tale and sorry commentary on how our relationship with nature can be bent and distorted for self-gain," said Spong, who has led an unsuccessful campaign to have Corky freed.
Even though Corky continues to circle endlessly around her concrete tank, the efforts have not been in vain, Spong said.
"Thousands have acted on her behalf during protests," he said. "It has been an amazing effort in the face of her captors' continued intransigence." Although Corky is old for a captive orca, she is not old for an orca in the wild. "If she was put in the ocean, where she could hear the sounds of her family, it might give her a new lease on life," he said.
SeaWorld spokesmen could not be reached for comment. Earlier this year, it said releasing Corky would expose her to tremendous risks. "The plan would almost certainly end in her death," the centre said.
Spong burns a candle every Dec. 11 at his whale research station on Hanson Island to show he is thinking about the day in 1969 when six killer whales from northern resident pods were captured and sold to aquariums.
Five died within the first few years of captivity. But Corky -- five years old when she was caught -- survived these 39 years, and has been known since her capture as Shamu to SeaWorld San Diego visitors.
"Her story is a sad tale and sorry commentary on how our relationship with nature can be bent and distorted for self-gain," said Spong, who has led an unsuccessful campaign to have Corky freed.
Even though Corky continues to circle endlessly around her concrete tank, the efforts have not been in vain, Spong said.
"Thousands have acted on her behalf during protests," he said. "It has been an amazing effort in the face of her captors' continued intransigence." Although Corky is old for a captive orca, she is not old for an orca in the wild. "If she was put in the ocean, where she could hear the sounds of her family, it might give her a new lease on life," he said.
SeaWorld spokesmen could not be reached for comment. Earlier this year, it said releasing Corky would expose her to tremendous risks. "The plan would almost certainly end in her death," the centre said.
vrijdag 5 december 2008
Killer Whales in the Gulf of Mexico
About 60 miles south of Orange Beach, a fishing trip for tuna caught the unexpected instead. "I was like a five year old with the best present in the world on Christmas day when I saw the whales, it was like wow!"
Veteran charter boat captain Eddie Hall thought he'd seen just about everything. "Lot's of cool stuff everything from submarines to ships to every kind of shark you can think of, never a killer whale. Never ever thought about seeing a killer whale in my lifetime in the Gulf."
Hall says for a while they forgot they had a video camera on board. His first phone call after returning home was to his good friend, outdoors man Gary Finch. "For a sighting like this to happen for thirty minutes to an hour and get it on videotape is pretty extraordinary."
It has happened before. Biologist Keith Mullin says there have been 17 sightings of Orca's in the Gulf, but not like this. "Ten to 15 in a pod that's the most we've ever seen or really even gotten reports of."
Just to give you an idea how big some of these whales were, the back of the charter boat Shady Lady is 18 feet across. Some of the whales were that long and some, even longer.
A killer whale encounter in the Gulf of Mexico, it's something boat owner Shawn Clemons won't soon forget. "For them to come up, no hesitation. Basically we could have jumped off the boat onto their backs, it was breathtaking."
It's one fish tale they'll be talking about for years to come.
According to the National Marine Fishery Service there are at least 20 species of whales and dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico.
Before this sighting the population of killer whales in the Gulf was thought to be around 150.
Veteran charter boat captain Eddie Hall thought he'd seen just about everything. "Lot's of cool stuff everything from submarines to ships to every kind of shark you can think of, never a killer whale. Never ever thought about seeing a killer whale in my lifetime in the Gulf."
Hall says for a while they forgot they had a video camera on board. His first phone call after returning home was to his good friend, outdoors man Gary Finch. "For a sighting like this to happen for thirty minutes to an hour and get it on videotape is pretty extraordinary."
It has happened before. Biologist Keith Mullin says there have been 17 sightings of Orca's in the Gulf, but not like this. "Ten to 15 in a pod that's the most we've ever seen or really even gotten reports of."
Just to give you an idea how big some of these whales were, the back of the charter boat Shady Lady is 18 feet across. Some of the whales were that long and some, even longer.
A killer whale encounter in the Gulf of Mexico, it's something boat owner Shawn Clemons won't soon forget. "For them to come up, no hesitation. Basically we could have jumped off the boat onto their backs, it was breathtaking."
It's one fish tale they'll be talking about for years to come.
According to the National Marine Fishery Service there are at least 20 species of whales and dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico.
Before this sighting the population of killer whales in the Gulf was thought to be around 150.
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